General Chat

You aren't letting us doen Mersey, there is no time limit to adding to the reviews. Just don't want anyone to miss the thread as it was down on page 4. Also trying to tidying up all the ends as I am going away on Thursday and probably won't have internet access.

In your own time!! xx <3

I do im sorry for letting the team down :-(

I think we are missing Mersey's reviews if she has any this time.

The Kingmakers Daughter
I really enjoyed reading this after reading the White Queen and the Red Queen, and as always in those days, daughters are just pawns in the power struggle. Even though she married Richard for love, I was not sure if just another marriage to help in the struggle for the crown and money on Richards part, Would like to think he was in love with her and felt more for him now his remains have been found, So sad that her son died so young and love the way the White Queen was portrayed.
Her books are very easy reads which I need during a very busy few weeks.

Lots here I like :)

River of Destiny

Barbara Erskine always crafts an intriguing story and this is no exception. She is so clever to entwine the three time lines together (now, Victorian and Anglo Saxon) without you either losing the plot or getting annoyed at the chopping and changing, it all seemed to flow effortlessly. Right from the beginning there are omens of doom, it's just a case of how much is going to end in tears! Although it is not definite she leaves us with the hope of a happy ending for Zoe and Leo.

The Kingmakers Daughter

I am really looking forward to the White Queen on TV and seeing the way they link the three cousins at war stories.
In other books I have read about Anne she is portrayed as a cipher, someone to whom things happen, but in this book she has more character, although many of her actions are dictated by her love for her father, the Duke of Warwick (that's three out of the four books I have read this time with a less than happy parental influence!) The ending is sad but at least Anne died before Richard met his gruesome fate. I just wish we knew what happened to the princes in the Tower – I blame Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.

I haven't managed to get hold of the Daisy Picker yet (apparently there isn't a copy in the whole Essex library system!) but I did manage to read 3 others and the library got My Secret Sister in from last time so I read that too.

My Secret Sister

I found this book fascinating, especially as Genes Reunited had helped them to find each other. I found Helen's story very uncomfortable to read. I couldn't understand how her dad could be so violent until I read that not only had he been a prisoner of war of the Japanese but that he was not Helen's father (reasons but NOT excuses!) but I never really did work out her mother. Just as you thought you had found out the worst another event or sibling appeared, how she managed to get the family to keep quiet I don't know. The saddest thing was that the girls will never know why their mother and father did not get together. Jenny's story is far more 'normal' but it was intriguing the way the twins' lives had overlapped, on the beach at Embleton and Jenny's operation by the surgeon Helen worked for, without them knowing. I am so glad they found each other.

The Murderer's Daughters

Another book about two sisters and how early family life can affect you throughout your life.
After their father murders their inadequate mother Lulu and Merry face the aftermath in very different ways, each tied to their private pains and guilts. Lulu wonders if she could have stopped the murder if she had fetched help sooner and forbids Merry to tell anyone about their history. Merry feels that she has to visit her dad in prison but can't ask him why he attacked her as well. The story covers some thirty years and way the shadow of the murder dictates their behaviour is brilliantly told. Although the book does hold out hope that the daughters have begun to work out their problems as Persie says their are untold further worries they have not faced.

Two more reviews to follow

Having read everyone elses reviews, I feel I have nothing to add except, that Mr briggs Hat both enthralled and annoyed me, but it was covered well by the TV coverage.

The Daisy Picker, typical feel good novel from an Irish writer, they really know how to spell out a story, which usually carries you along, this was no different. Will read it again and probably again

Jan

Yes I loved the old woman's list as well Tess.

Thanks to Perse's O.H. A fab. review. I really must request it from the library..

Ann in Glos. I was smitten by the womans list that Lizzie read in the waiting room. Perhaps I should make one of my own, and try a few things out - while I can!

Rock Climimg comes to mind. (there is an indoor place near my home).

Have seen this and will add later

Berona, it was Helen that was bored with it, I just added her review.

Perse I am pleased that I am not the only one to start reading a book that I have forgotten I have read. Comes from reading so many books over the years I guess.

Thanks to your OH for such an excellent review. :-)

The Dairy Picker
Not a lot to this story and quite predictable, but nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it.

Mr. Briggs' Hat
Don't apologise Ann. I suggested it and I, too, found it boring. In fact, I haven't quite finished it yet. I can only take so much in one session of new people being brought in to examine the evidence. That's all that seemed to be happening all the way through.

The Daisy Picker...

I did so want to read this but this is not at any of our libraries though other books by Roisin Meaney are but they are more recent. I will keep a watch out for it.. might pick up one cheaply at some time. Again this was why I did not vote for it but now I have read your reviews I am definitely going to search secondhand and on line for it.

Cheers Persie

The 100 yearold man

I saw where there was a waiting list for this so did not vote for it. Went to pick up books for himself and he was one of those that had ordered it. I read it and I think I must have had a smile on my face most of the way through it.. but I will let my OH do his review of it instead:

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

Don’t believe the blurbs on the back cover “Hilarious” “Dynamic comedy” “Incredibly funny” This man played a very serious role in the history of the 20th Century! The help Allan Karlsson gave to various world leaders in times of crisis is beyond measure in spite of the daft way he went about it. He was an equal opportunity irritant to politicians on the left and the right as he refused to even think about politics (nor religion). Some these grandees, not fully appreciating his true genius, ordered his execution. That he reached the age of 101 and still going is down to a combination of very good luck, gormless guile, and the stupidity of others. He was helped through much of it by his loyal compadre Einstein. No, not that one! Herbert Einstein, who was definitely no Einstein.

Allan was not a deep thinker. To him, what was, was, and what will be, will be. Provided he had a regular supply of vodka and plenty of opportunities to rest he was content.

That he disappeared very soon after climbing out of the window (incidentally it was to escape his 100th Birthday party) was a good thing as he was soon being pursued vigorously by several Police Departments plus a very nasty gang. The press was very excited by the story – what they didn’t understand they made up. The local prosecutor made his reputation on the case – then lost it again – then restored it without any clue how it happened.

It all ended happily, thanks to luck, ingenuity, good fortune, and Sonya the elephant. As it says in the Bible (or not) “They all lived happily ever after”

The scenery in Sweden is much like New Zealand – lakes, rivers, forests, farms, drunks, motorcycle gangs, crazy drivers etc. The people are the same – classless (no class?), apolitical, political, and totally convinced that immigrants of a brown hue either bludge off welfare or take jobs from the locals without paying any tax. So the action and colours in my head were man.. mag.. maf.. maginfi… really good!

Others may have giggled their way through this book but I took it very seriously. And I would prefer that no one else should read it. I would like to keep it as my own delicious secret.

The Murderer's Daughters by R S Meyers

Got the book from the library and recognised the cover, started reading it and realised I have already read it but couldn't remember it all. But knew it as I went along. When I suggested it, I had just read a review of it and it looked good. I remember that it was compelling reading when I started it but that petered out and I don't think I well and truly finished it at the time. Finished it properly now or paid attention better. Should Lulu have told her children about her father.. I am not sure. I do think quite a few parents would have done what she did but there would also be those that took the approach that Merry took. The author had it that the children were okay with the fact that their grandfather had killed their grandmother and were not nearly as interested as they were when Lulu told them that their parents died in a car crash. I don't think it could be that simple. They still don't get to see him and maybe they will want to when they are older and Lulu needed to face up to that possibility. So often in this type of book it is what is not said that one thinks about.

Mr Briggs' Hat by Kate Colquhoun

OKay it is a true story, so one knew from the beginning... well more by looking at the photographs before reading who would be hung for the murder of Mr Briggs.. But what a fascinating tale of historical detective work. The things that the police overlooked and lack of forensic evidence must have led to quite a few hangings etc in times gone by. I got a bit bored with it about half way through but regained my interest when attending the trial sometime later. The poor bloke not being allowed to speak on his own behalf and all the people that could have provided him with an alibi after the hanging. Do have to wonder how one got on in long train journeys being confined to a carriage without passage way to facilities?

On the whole I would rather have just read the first bit and the last bit and left out quite a lot of the middle.. but dear me it was me who suggested it so stuck with it... er ah um.

Finally got Mr Penumbra's 24hour Bookstore.

Not my thing and did not realise it delved into SciFi, and the way we are heading with computers and google. The search engine has come along way since it first started but I was impressed by the style of writing by Robin Sloane and the fact that you were still in the here and now while transporting yourself back into medieval history and forward again by computerised communication and clever manipulation of photography. It reads a bit off the wall but could very well happen. It is not too far fetched and the interaction between the characters all made for a good story. I found it compelling reading. The font referred to in the book can be looked up on "google" of course.. and I quote "Turns out that "Griffo Gerritszoon" the font creater from the book, is actually Francesco Griffo who was born in the same year as Aldus (1450) and died three years after him (1518)." I do like it when there are actual links with the past in fiction. So the book went from being not my thing to being very intriguing.

How far away are the next changes to the computerised world that we live in:
Google Glass is being developed and about 1000 people are trialing them.. it is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display. It can interact with the internet by voice commands and are designed to be fitted to your normal glasses or sunglasses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

Not a Review!!

Mr Brigg's Hat.

I didn't read this book, but saw from the description of it (in the suggestion list) that I already knew something about the story (not the book).

I recently watched a t.v programm which told the full story - including (or should I say especially) about the investigations, following the crime.

I suppose that in those days the investigations would have been quite cutting edge.

As I knew how it all turned out, I chose to vote for two other books.

Sorry Helen that the pictures you saw on Kindle spoiled the did he?, didn't he?
part of the story. A big mistake on their part.

Review The King Makers Daughter by Philippa Gregory.

I had already read The White Queen and The Red Queen and still have them on my book shelves.
I got King Makers Daughter from the local Library, and have had to return it already (unfortunately).

Although I had previously read of Richard 111, it somehow passed me by the his wife, Anne, was a daughter of The King Maker. (or that her sister married George, brother of Edward 1V and Richard 111. Before this I had thought of Anne, wife of Richard as being little shy Anne.

It was interesting to read of the times of "the cousins war" from someone elses point of view. Philippa Gregory gave "shy Anne" her own voice.
The book tells of how important Anne's father (The King Maker) was to her.
I couldn't help but feel that his influence was TOO far reaching. She was a pawn in her father's schemes and even continued to do what she thought he would have wanted, after his death.

It was he who caused her jealousy and fear of Elizabeth Woodville, (THe White Queen), perhaps these two women would have trusted each other without his interference.

Although a lot was happening with plots, counter plots, intrigue, battles, births and deaths Phillipa Gregory does not stint on descriptions, making it easier to feel that I was sitting in the room (or hiding behind the curtains) while the story unfolded.

I could do with buying my own copy of the book, so that I could directly compare what each of the three women (Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret and Ann) said about different situations, especially when their paths crossed.

Enjoyed the book + + + +

P.S For those in the UK (just in case you didn't know) The White Queen wil be on t.v starting on Sunday 16th June.


Tess